Breath of the Wild makes you care about Zelda by making her pain palpable. By that measure, Zelda’s journey is a good story that accomplishes what it sets out to do. At the same time, the tale at the heart of the game compounds an ongoing frustration felt by some fans: Zelda isn’t allowed to be the kind of hero Link is. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
In the latest episode of the Favecast, Gita Jackson and I dive deep into Breath of the Wild’s memories and examine what role Zelda plays in Nintendo’s open-world masterpiece. We both found Breath of the Wild to be deeply affecting, yet were bummed out at the way it makes Zelda into a proverbial ghost in a game that is ostensibly about her empowerment.
Perhaps the game captures Zelda’s conundrum a little too well? It’s a complex topic! Our discussion begins around the 1 minute and 25 second mark, if you want to jump straight to it. We discuss story elements of the game, so be warned.
Around the 33:40 mark, we talk about how conflicted we are about Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, what Pokémon probably taste like, and the strange things AC villagers ask for in-game.
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Comments
6 responses to “Zelda’s Story In Breath Of The Wild Is Powerful, But Also A Bummer”
Duh, no shit…
If she were, it would be a different game with a different story… SMH.
Yeahnah.
BotW was a masterpiece of gaming, but the story was rubbish bordering on non-existent. A few lines of dialogue and some sad music is not all a story needs.
The story was great? HAHAHAHA.
The Nintendo circlejerk on Kotaku never ceases to amaze me. The story was absolute dogshit. Many aspects of the game were. Doesn’t stop you from all giving it a 10/10.
I imagine the type of people to enjoy Zelda to be the same sort of people who could unironically play a paladin in D&D. They are probably amongst the more well-adjusted among us. I worry sometimes that Zelda and Mario have no appeal for me.
Because it’s Mario and Zelda or because of gameplay?
A bit of both. Probably more due to the IP than the game play, if anything.